Officer wages continue to spiral

Singapore: Despite the severe downturn officer wages continue to spiral, leading managers and crew specialists tell SeaShip News. Marlon Roño, president of the Philippines’ Magsaysay Corporation, one of the world’s top crewing specialists with up to 40,000 seafarers on the books, told SeaShip News: “Officer wages continue to grow.”

He elaborated: “This is a great, great depression. I do not know if it has hit the bottom yet, but there are still lots of ships coming out. The challenge to find the right officers and crews continues.”

Quite so, concurred Mark Charman, ceo of recruitment firm Faststream, who said: “There is significant wage inflation for officers. Demand continues to exceed supply especially for offshore and LNG.” He warned that there is “no quick fix” and there was an urgent “need to invest in the next generation”. Charman reckoned it would take three to four years before there is some sort of balance in officer supply and demand, stressing, “It will get worse before it gets better.”

Boss of MTM Shipmanagement Vijay Rangroo acknowledged the rising wages and voiced his frustration. “It is a fact that [officers] seem to be oblivious of what is going on in the markets.” [20/09/12]